Unmasking Inequality: STEM Course Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorMeans, Barbara
dc.contributor.authorNeisler, Julie
dc.date.accessioned2020-08-13T20:22:28Z
dc.date.available2020-08-13T20:22:28Z
dc.date.issued2020-08
dc.description.abstractThis report describes the experiences of over 600 undergraduates who were taking STEM courses with in-person class meetings that had to shift to remote instruction in spring 2020 because of COVID-19. Internet connectivity issues were serious enough to interfere with students’ ability to attend or participate in their STEM course at least occasionally for 46% of students, with 15% of students experiencing such problems often or very often. A large majority of survey respondents reported some difficulty with staying motivated to work on their STEM courses after they moved online, with 45% characterizing motivation as a major problem. A majority of STEM students also reported having problems knowing where to get help with the course content after it went online, finding a quiet place to work on the course, and fitting the course in with other family or home responsibilities. Overall, students who reported experiencing a greater number of major challenges with continuing their course after it went online expressed lower levels of satisfaction with their course after COVID-19. An exception to this general pattern, though, was found for students from minoritized race/ethnicity groups, females, and lower-income students. Despite experiencing more challenges than other students did with respect to continuing their STEM courses remotely, these students were more likely to rate the quality of their experiences when their STEM course was online as just as good as, or even better than, when the course was meeting in person.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DUE 2029642). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position, policy, or endorsement of their organization or the funding agency.en_US
dc.identifier.otherDOI: https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/102
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12265/102
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherDigital Promiseen_US
dc.subjecthigher educationen_US
dc.subjectcourse satisfactionen_US
dc.subjectCOVID-19en_US
dc.subjectSTEMen_US
dc.subjectsurveyen_US
dc.subjectlearning sciencesen_US
dc.subjectonline learningen
dc.subjectequityen
dc.subjectpostsecondaryen
dc.titleUnmasking Inequality: STEM Course Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemicen_US
dc.typeTechnical Reporten_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
NSF COVID_FINAL_Aug13.pdf
Size:
1020.38 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download

Collections

Learning Sciences Research